It's not about schools. It's about taxes

Cynicism is a powerful political tool

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The Republican assault on public education in North Carolina began as a lie. They took power after the GOP wave of 2010 and immediately began saying that our public schools were “broken.” They attacked teachers, claiming they had cushy jobs with too much leave time. Their solution, now clear, was to really break them and the consequences to children be damned.

In reality, North Carolina’s public schools were improving steadily. Teacher pay and per pupil spending were reaching the national average. Test scores improved and so did graduation rates. Sure, some schools suffered, especially in economically disadvantaged areas where tax bases were too low to supplement legislative allocations, but the Leandro court decision required more state money to flow to those school systems. Progress from the 1990s through 2010 was slow but steady.

Republicans, though, had different ideas. They have never been focused on the quality of our public schools. Their priority is removing societal responsibility for educating children. They would “fix” public schools by starving them.

They cut per pupil spending and teacher pay to among the lowest in the nation. They expanded charter schools, allowing them to operate with little oversight and jump-started a massive educational industrial complex of for-profit schools with powerful lobbyists. They implemented a voucher program, initially claiming to give poor kids an opportunity to go to private schools to avoid the failing public ones, then lifting the income cap and allowing the richest families in the state to apply for subsidies.

The GOP’s impact on public education showed up in dueling headlines this week. The conservative Carolina Journal banner crowed, “Record Demand for Opportunity Scholarships: Legislature Should Respond.” The News & Observer reported “Teachers are leaving in droves.” They are two sides of the same coin.

Of course the demand for vouchers skyrocketed. The legislature lifted the income cap on awarding the euphemistically named “opportunity scholarships.” Many of these applicants already attend private schools and are almost certainly wealthy. Accountants across North Carolina told their clients to apply for the vouchers even if they don’t get them because the accountant’s job is to save their clients money. Besides, the increase in applicants generates headlines like the one in the Carolina Journal, giving legislators cover to support shifting more money from struggling public schools to wealthy families. Their cynicism is sometimes breathtaking.

The News & Observer article reports the consequence of Republican educational policies. Under the GOP, teachers are neither respected nor valued. They’re treated like wayward employees trying to scam the bosses. Instead of being praised for their work to provide tools to improve our children’s lives, leading Republican politicians accuse teachers of creating “socialist indoctrination centers.” Predictably, veteran educators are leaving the profession and fewer graduates are entering it. Our children will suffer while the GOP crows that our schools are still broken.

Republicans’ educational “reform” has been a lie from the beginning because, in reality, they don’t believe in public education at all. Their claim that schools were broken was a lie. Their insistence that “opportunity scholarships” were a way to give poor kids the chance to go to private schools was a lie. Their claim that they are paying teachers more is a lie. They have broken our educational system and in nominating Mark Robinson for governor and Michele Morrow superintendent of public instruction show they don’t mind doing more damage to the morale of teachers or the quality of our schools.

But really, it’s not even about schools. It’s about taxes. In their radical belief in self-reliance and the free market, they don’t believe government should be offering anybody either a hand out or a hand up. They are so twisted in their ideological zeal to keep money in the pockets of the wealthy and corporations, that they will let public school die and support a guy like Donald Trump with no morals and a disdain for the Constitution.

Self-interest and taxes drive the Republican elite. Do you really think they would support Trump if he said he would raise taxes on corporations or the richest Americans? Of course not, but they’ll tolerate an attempt to undermine our democracy, foment political violence, cavort with corrupt and vicious dictators, and exploit the presidency for political gain as long as he won’t tax rich people.

The threat to our schools and our country are linked. A pathological focus on dismantling government controls the money wing the Republican Party today. Those ideologues have made an unholy alliance with populists animated by a fear of immigrants and the browning of America. They’ll re-segregate our schools and watch poor counties and poor families lose ground to protect monied interest and wage culture war.

The GOP attack on public education in North Carolina has been based on lies from the beginning. Our schools weren’t broken. Vouchers weren’t about helping poor families. Teacher pay has not increased. It’s all an extension of the Big Lie. Say anything to protect the wealth of corporations and the richest Americans. Remove all societal obligations in deference to radical self-interest. Then call it freedom because cynicism is a powerful political tool.